Chapter 7
Word count- 6440
Authors note-
Hey! Sorry for uploading late, I've have a lot going on atm. I hope you like the new chapter! Oh, and btw, when the word Anna is written anywhere in this chapter it is pronounced like the princess from the movie Frozen, HAHAHA. (:
All rights to Star wars are reserved to Lucasfilm, I am just an admirer of the work. All rights to promises are reserved to KQinsights.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. Her perfectly round face, those stunning brown eyes, and he could already see that she would have Leia's smile. She would be a heart-stopper no doubt.
He loved her. So absolutely and abundantly that it threatened to kill him right there. He didn't know how he could have fallen in love with her so fast. But he did, and he would do absolutely everything in his power to protect her. To protect this new fragile piece of his heart that could destroy him in a matter of seconds.
He hadn't known how long he had been watching her sleep. He had no idea what time it was, and he couldn't care less. Leia had gone to sleep hours ago, having been exhausted. Kerris had looked her over after the birth and said that the bleeding had because of a slight tear. It had been more dramatic than dangerous. After, Leia was conscious long enough to hold her daughter for a couple of hours before she nearly fell asleep sitting upright. Han took their daughter in his arms and laid her down in-between them. That night he had counted her breaths out of pure fascination, until his eyes had become heavy.
The next morning a slight whimpering awoke him. As he opened his eyes he was met with hers. Her mothers in every way. The smile that crossed his face was one of pure joy.
She hadn't cried when he picked her up. Deciding he needed a moment alone with his daughter, he got up out of bed and walked over to the cushioned couch in the corner of the room. She had fallen back asleep shortly after, and now Han just stared at her. Took her in and counted his blessings.
Yesterday could have gone so much worse. If Leia… and then if she… he didn't want to think about it for a moment longer. Not when they were both here, alive.
"I thought we had a promise sweetheart. No funny business until daddy got back," he whispered, gently rubbing the top of her head. "How about this, I will forgive you if you promise to be nice to mommy and me, okay? I understand the occasional midnight screaming, I read about that somewhere, but at least let us have 3-4 hours a night, Okay?"
"You making a bargain with our daughter already smuggler?" Leia laughed as she tossed the blankets and made to swing her legs around the side of the bed.
"Hey, wait. What do you think you are doing?" Han asked seeing her intentions to join him.
"Oh God Han, she's here," Leia exclaimed pointedly staring at her husband and daughter, "Can we stop with the overprotectiveness already?" she asked, rolling her eyes and bracing her hands on either side of the bed. "Besides I need to stretch my legs, I've been laying in this bed for days."
"A day," he corrected her, "and I'm never going to stop looking out for my girls," he said as Leia made her way across the room. He could tell she was in pain, but the fact that she was up and moving was reassuring.
Leia came and sat down next to Han, smiling down at the precious image of her family.
"She needs a name you know," Leia said, involuntarily smiling as her daughter scrunched her nose at the contact form Leia's fingers on her cheek.
"I've been thinking about that actually," Han responded.
"Oh really?" Leia asked sarcastically, "and when exactly have you had time to do that?"
"I haven't had much to do recently," Han smirked shrugging his shoulders playfully.
Leia rolled her eyes, "Alright let's hear it flyboy. And just so we're clear I have full authority to veto. I'm not naming our daughter after your favorite old girlfriend or half-naked celebrity that used to hang on your wall or…"
"Rayanna," Han announced, cutting his wife off, "Ray for short."
Leia's words caught in her throat.
At her silence, Han looked at his wife. He saw the silver line forming in her eyes. "If you don't like it, we can negotiate…"
Now it was her turn to cut him off.
"Han. It's perfect."
Han watched a tear fall down her face and he brushed it away with his thumb, catching her face in his hand. She closed her eyes and snuggled into his warmth.
When she opened her eyes once again Han had turned his focus back to Rayanna.
"Where… where did you hear a name like that?"
"My sisters name was Anna."
Leia froze. He never talked about his childhood, she genuinely thought he had been left to fend for himself given his personality and street smarts.
"I was 6 when she died, she was 15. I still remember her face. Her smile. Her warmth. We weren't rich by any means, but she tried to hide me from our reality. When she got sick…" A tear fell down his face and all Leia could do was listen. "When she got sick, she started teaching me how to fend for myself, how to pickpocket and not get caught, how to find the warm corners of allies, but she also taught me about ships. Her dream was to be a pilot. She taught me to love flying." Han's voice was almost a whisper.
"She sounds lovely," Leia said, wrapping her arms around her husband's shoulders.
"She was, and she would have loved you," Han said smiling, "Gods, together the two of you would have been a feat of nature."
Leia chuckled, letting a tear fall.
"And Ray? Any particular reason?"
Han took a deep breath. When he had told her the story of the ambush, he had neglected to relay a couple of details.
"Remember how I told you during the ambush I was hit in the head and got knocked out?"
"Yeah, you said they must have thought you were already dead, and that's why they left you."
"Right, well that's not exactly how it went."
Leia pulled back, surprise and confusion written across her face.
Han continued, "There was a young guy with us. A kid from the capital. His dad was one of the Rising 15."
"What!?"
"My expression exactly. Anyways, right before the ambush, he was running his mouth and I was trying to keep him quiet. That's when the bomb went off,"
"THE BOMB?" Leia almost yelled, quickly realizing her daughter was still sleeping inches away.
"Yes… to disorient all of us. When my head was clear enough, I got up and tried to look around. There was a trooper right in front of me, but my brain hadn't caught up with my muscles yet."
Leia's heartbeat faster and faster with every word.
"I was just about to raise my blaster when the trooper pulled the trigger. It was about to hit dead center when I was tackled to the ground. I must have hit my head pretty hard because the next thing I remember was waking up on the forest floor."
Leia couldn't help but see the image of his dead eyes once again. Cursing her own mind, she quickly looked from the image and focused on the warmth of her hand in his.
"The kid. The kid pushed me out of the way and took the blast to the abdomen. He must have gotten a final shot off at the trooper before he went down. He saved my life. I woke up with him on top of me and the rest of my crew dead around me."
"Han…" she breathed, "I'm so sorry,"
"Yeah, me too, but the kid was still alive, so I slug him around my shoulder and tried to help him back to base. When I asked him why he saved me he told me that he heard you and I were expecting and that he knew what it was like to grow up without a father, he didn't want anyone else to go through what he did. His name was Raymond."
Leia didn't have words. What that young man had done for her family… But then her brain caught up to his words.
Was
"Was?" She asked sheepishly.
"I… I guess I don't know. We found Luke shortly after and when he felt a shift in the force and you didn't pick up the phone, we both took off leaving him with the rest of Luke's crew."
"So, he might still be alive?" Leia said hopefully
"Maybe but his wounds were pretty bad. He was barely conscious when I left."
Leia leapt off the couch, or at least tried to. She quickly realized how much pain she was still in and slowed down.
"Careful," Han jumped, reaching out his left hand and racing to catch her still holding Rayanna in his right arm.
"I'm alright, I'm okay," Leia said, finding her footing.
"Where are you going?"
"To call Luke, see if he can find out any information about Raymond," Leia said, making her way across the room and reaching for her com.
"Leia…" Han said, leaning back into the cushions. "He probably didn't make it. Without immediate medical attention the possibility is…"
"Slim I know, but if there is a chance he is still here I need to… I don't know, kiss him," -at that suggestion Han sat up straight and stared at his wife- "or at least give him a metal and a parade," Leia finished never meeting Hans eyes.
Holding the comm up to her ear she looked over to her husband, "Oh calm down, he saved your life. Luke? Yeah hey, I have a question for you. When you found Han in the forest, was there another young man with him? … Yeah he was hurt pretty bad… Do you know what happened to him… Yeah… Umhh… Really?!" Her excitement caught his attention. "Yeah… and he's… okay great! Thank you, I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone and looked at Han who was eagerly waiting.
"And?" He asked frantically.
"He's alive."
Hans' eyes shot open and stared at her making sure he had heard her right.
"Where?"
"Room 308, a medica found him and patched him up,"
"A medic? There aren't any medics on the base. Luke scoured the place when you…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to relive those moments.
"Well, Kerris must have found him. Come on!" Leia said, sipping on her slippers and heading towards the door.
"Whoa, Leia, you need to rest, we can see him tomorrow."
"Well you can stay here if you want, but I'm going."
Half scared she might actually kiss him if he didn't. Han got up off the couch and then realized Rayanna was still in his arms.
"What about her?" Han said, slightly pulling his daughter from his chest.
"Bring her, Raymond is going to want to meet his God Daughter,"
Han couldn't help the chuckle that reverberated through him.
"You've never even met him!"
"Yes, well he helped you keep your promise to come back to us, so I owe him." Her playful expression dropped, and Han's quickly followed.
Han crossed the room in 3 large steps and grabbed her face and kissed her. A reminder. For both of them. Neither of them was going anywhere.
When he finally pulled back there was a new hunger in her eyes. A want. One that he shared. To take each other and never let go. Never again. But that would have to wait, at least the night, longer considering the ordeal Leia's body just went through. But they would get there eventually, and when they did, Han would show her in all of her favorite ways how much he loved her, and how grateful he was for their little family.
He said as much with his eyes and Leia's cheeks became hot. She quickly turned suddenly feeling shy.
"Lead the way," Han muttered in her ear from behind, sending chills down her back.
After slightly shaking her shoulders, to Han's great amusement, Leia opened the door.
Xx
The walk up to the third floor took longer than expected.
Leia grabbed Rayanna from Han's arms after stepping outside of the doorway, insisting she had spent too much time away from her daughter. Han simply laughed as he committed that she had only been couple hours, to which she rolled her eyes and whispered something Han couldn't hear.
However, after taking 10 steps down the long hallway, slightly stumbling after the 5th and pausing to grab the wall after the 9th, Leia reluctantly gave Rayanna back to her husband so she could focus on her balance.
Every step sent a shot of pain through her body, and Han was anything but oblivious. She paused in her place once more, only a few yards from the elevator door, and Han placed loving hand on her lower back.
"Leia… Raymond can wait. Considering his condition, I doubt he's going anywhere anytime soon. We can talk to him in the morning."
Shaking her head and taking the last few steps to the elevator bay she pushed the up button. Turning to Han with that same determined look in her face she said, "Oh please. It would take longer to walk back to the room now."
"I'll carry you if I have to," Han retaliated taking a step towards her with an open arm.
"Han!" She said chuckling imagining the scoundrel caring his daughter in one arm and his wife in the other.
The elevator door opened as her Han rolled his eyes with a sly smile across his face.
Stepping past the doors, Leia slightly leaned over Han's right elbow and pulled the blanket from her daughter's eyes.
Her eyes were closed, and she slightly nuzzled into her forehead into her father's chest. Leia smiled and looked up to see Han. His face emulated her own.
Catching her eyes, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She began to pull him in as the elevator doors once again.
"Oh!" the women's shocked voice interrupted the quiet moment and both Han and Leia's necks snapped forward.
"Kerris! Hi, umm.. Sorry, we, we were just leaving," Leia tried to recover as she stepped out the elevator and pass Kerris. Han was quick to follow.
Turning around, letting the door close behind her, Kerris said, "No need to apologize! I was actually on my way to come and see how you and your little one were recovering. The fact that you're up and walking is a good sign."
"Yeah, walking may be an overstatement. Hobbling is more like it," Han responded earning an elbow to the ribs.
Kerris's eyes narrowed on Leia. "Are you in pain?"
"No, no pain, just soar."
"That's good, just make sure to take it easy. Your body went through a traumatic experience, and it needs time to heal."
"Seeee," Han said wide eyed to his unamused wife.
Rolling her eyes, Leia put on her polite politician smile and said, "I know, we are just on our way to visit a friend and then I promise to hobble-" emphasizing the offensive verb- "right back to our room and rest for the rest of the day."
"You know Raymond?!" Kerris asked surprised.
"Know is a relative term, we met on the recon mission, he… he…" Han stammered unsure how to finish his sentence.
"He is the reason we are both here today," Leia finished turning to Han and offering a reassuring smile.
"Of course. I didn't mean to pry. He was just waking up when I left, he should be up for some visitors."
"Great, thank you. Really… Thank you," Leia said, realizing she hadn't had a moment to truly thank the medic for what she had done.
"No need for thanks, your highness."
Leia smiled and turned to take the next step towards Raymond's room.
"Does she have a name," Kerris asked stopping Leia's movement.
Turning back around, Leia caught Kerris's momentary smile. It wasn't sweet. It wasn't kind. It was challenging.
Leia blinked and it was gone, replaced by the innocent face of a beautiful women.
"Rayanna," Leia said grabbing onto Han's elbow to pull them in the other direction once again.
Kerris took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them.
Peaking over Han's elbow, as Leia had a moment earlier, Kerris smiled, and again, for a moment her eyes weren't doating or simple. They were hungry.
Lifting her eyes from her daughter's face, Kerris met Leia's eyes and once more, her face emulated nothing more than kindness.
"May I hold her?"
Han instinctually pulled away, sharing Leia's strange feeling.
"Only for a moment -" turning her attention back to Rayanna and running her index finger down her smooth skin. "- Just while you reacquaint yourselves with Raymond, and then you can make the introduction."
Han looked down to Leia for an answer. He would be happy to deny the women's request. But Leia nodded slightly.
This woman had saved her life and her daughter's life, it was the least she could do.
Meeting Hans eyes she perked up. "Of course! We will only be a minute."
Kerris smiled once more, seemingly more genuine than the last, as Han cautiously handed over his daughter.
Leia couldn't help the slight twinge in her chest seeing another women holding her child. Nevertheless, collecting herself once more, she turned back to Han, linked her arm with his and walked into Raymond's room.
Xx
Knocking slightly, Han entered the room first. Pushing past the door, Han saw Raymond sitting upright in his bed with a holo pad in his hands.
Reacting to the sound of Han's voice, Raymond lifted his eyes form the article he had been reading.
"General Solo?"
"Hey kid, you up for some visitors?"
"Umm.. Of course!" he said looking around his disastrous bed and grabbing for the bloodied bandages that were thrown across the covers.
"Oh, please don't!" A sweet voice Raymond didn't recognize said. Looking up he was met with the kind and beautiful face of Princess Leia Organan. "We didn't mean to disturb you," she continued taking a few steps closer to the bed, "we just wanted to come and see how you were doing."
"Much better thanks to your husband, Your Majesty,"
Han and Leia both couldn't help the laugh that escaped them. Confusion spreading across his face, Leia quit her laughing and smiled.
"Sorry, it's just that no one has ever called me that."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend I just-"
"No, noo… You're completely alright. But Leia is just fine."
"Ohh, sure, Leia."
"And from what I heard my husband left you in the middle of the forest." Leia retaliated shooting her husband a sarcastic scowl.
"He might have," Raymond laughed, "but that was after he carried me a mile, put a tunicate around my leg, and wrapped my abdominal wound. He saved my life out there."
"You saved mine first, it was the least I could do," Han said stepping closer to his wife.
Han had taken a moment after stepping into Raymond's room. His face had been so pale before. His eyes bordered on lifeless. His green jacket that had been thrown over the chair in the corner brought back images of the attack. He internally cringed form the flashes and his head began to throb once more.
Feeling Leia's hand graze his own, he looked at her and he could see the understanding in her eyes. Her warmth brought him back to the present and he smiled gratefully, taking another step closer to her.
Still fighting bites of pain every few seconds, Leia asked "Mind if I sit?"
Wide eyed and embarrassed that he hadn't offered, Raymond pulled himself up farther in bed. "Yes! Of course, please."
"Thank you," she said sheepishly having read the concern on Han and Raymond's face.
Quickly changing the subject, she looked to Raymond again. "Thank you, truly-" she said placing her hand over his and squeezing slightly, "-for what you did out there."
"Really, it was nothing, your- Leia. Instinct more than anything."
"Yes well, I am extremely grateful for your bravery and instincts that day. I…" Choking back tears, she couldn't help the emotions that resurfaced that day, "I will be forever greatful." She felt Hans strong hand rest on her shoulder, and she turned to look at his eyes once more. Love shown there. Raw and undeniable love.
Turning back to Raymond, she quickly whipped the tear that had escaped her eye. "Our daughter is too; you gave her a change to know her father."
Han smiled and walked to the lounge chair near the bed side table.
Raymond smiled, and looking down at her swollen belly asked, "May I ask when you are due?"
Laughing once more and looking down at her still very round figure, Leia fought the urge to rub circles around her empty belly.
"Ahhh" she chuckled. "She decided to come a little early."
"Wow! I'm sorry, I just assumed…"
"Please… please, you were completely right to assume. It has been less than a day. I understand the confusion."
"That the other reason we came to say by," Han started turning to Leia. His eyes asked her if she was serious about what she had said earlier.
Having met the young man, only spending mere moments with him, she knew she had told no lie earlier.
Facing Raymond once more, "We would like to ask you to be her Godfather?"
Raymond's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his skull. His mouth opened and closed in rapid succession.
"I.. I… I don't know what to say."
"Is that a no?" Leia asked chuckling a little to herself.
"NO! I mean, YES. Yes. I would be honored."
Smiling with the newfound joy of letting another member into her tight knit family, Leia grasped Raymond's hand once more.
"What is her name?"
Han smiled and with pride and joy, he spoke his daughters name, "Rayanna."
Raymond fell back into the pillows and Han swore he say the beginning of a silver line grace his water line.
"It's beautiful," was all Raymond could manage.
"Would you like to meet her?" Leia asked, beyond excited to introduce the two.
"Yes, I would like that very much."
Leia smiled and pushed herself off the edge of the bed, "She is just out in the hall with Kerris."
"Who?"
Leia and Hans eyes snapped to Raymond.
"The medic. She said she was only in here moments ago?" Leia said searching his face for recognition.
Raymond shook his head, "My medic was male."
But before Leia could manage to speak the door to Raymond's room swung open once again.
A tall man with brown slicked back hair and a grey medic uniform stood in the doorway with a holo tablet in his hand. Looking up his face was shocked to see the people staring back at him.
"Hey doc, we were just talking about you," Raymond said
Han inched forward in his seat with his palms pressed into the armrests.
"Doc?" Han asked, confusion taking over.
"Yeah," Raymond said nonchalantly, "he met me when I got back to the base. He was the one who explained to me that without your tunicate, I would have died of blood loss. He's been checking in on me every couple of hours with meds and stuff."
Han's face dropped as he propelled himself out of the chair. In two quick paces he grabbed the medic by the collar and shoved him into the wall.
"Where the HELL WERE YOU?"
Stunned and wide eyed the medic scrambled against Han's tight grip.
"I.. What are you talking about? When?" the medic barley managed to formulate words.
"Yesterday! When my WIFE was bleeding out in labor! Where were you?"
Leia stood stunned. She knew she should have stopped her husband, but she needed the answers for herself.
"I… I wasn't informed till much later that there was an emergency… No… No one told any of the medics."
Dropping the medic so he could get the full story Han only gave him a moment to breath before bombarding him with more questions.
"What do you mean no one told you? And medics? As in multiple?"
Laying a hand across his sore neck the medic stood.
"Yes, no one told us until we heard form a commanding officer that there had been a birth on the base. I looked around at my crew and not a single person knew what had happened."
Han shook his head confused. Leia was to stunned to move, to speak, to breath.
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know sir! I was only informed this morning. But if I might ask, where did you learn how to birth a child General?"
"I didn't. Your medic Kerris did!"
"Who?"
It was the second time that word had been uttered, and all the pieces clicked into place. The different med patch on her uniform. The ability to slip in and out without anyone so much as batting an eye. The challenging simile she had given Leia moments ago.
Han eyes snapped to Leia's. He had come to his own conclusion.
"Rayanna!" Leia whimpered as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. They had come for her.
Han ran to the door and flung it open Leia watched his head swiveling form right to left with no relief or recollection.
She stumbled the few feet to the doorway, pleading and praying…
Standing in the entryway, her knees threatened to buckle, her lungs constricted, and her breath became rapid and uncontrolled.
The hallway was empty. Kerris was gone.
Rayanna was gone.
Han turned to face his wife. She was holding onto the door frame for dear life. She couldn't catch her breath. He took a step towards her, but she stopped him.
"Han-" she stammered in between rapid breaths, "Go… Find her!"
Han wanted to reach out to her. Hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But he needed to act.
He needed to find his daughter.
Without so much as another thought, Han turned and ran.
Leia crashed to her knees. Clutching her empty arms to her chest as she screamed a sob that cracked Han's heart in half.
Xx
Hearing that scream was the worst moment of Raymond's life.
He had never heard a sound like it in his life, but he knew what it meant.
It was a mother grieving the loss of her child.
Raymond threw off his blankets and, forgetting his injuries, ran to Leia and crashed down beside her.
Her back bent forward over her knees. Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession, and she cradled her empty arms.
"Leia! What happened?"
"She's gone…" Leia inhaled choppily "They took her…" If possible, Leia cried harder saying the words aloud.
"Who? Who took her?"
"The Empire… Oh God!" Leia couldn't stop. Her heart physically hurt. The day she had found out she was pregnant she had opened a small window in the dark abyss. One so small that if it was to break, Leia could have handled the pain. Back then she could have handled the loss, if something had happened, she would have been heartbroken, but she would have gotten through it.
It wasn't rational, it was instinctual. It had become her defense mechanism. She couldn't open up for anyone like that. Han had managed to wiggle his way in, but that had taken time. Months and years, fights and make ups, and only then was she able to love another person as much as she had loved her parents, loved her people.
Time and time again the people she loved had been taken from her. Simply her heart couldn't take it. That's why throughout her pregnancy she had kept that piece so small. But yesterday… yesterday when she heard her daughters cry for the first time, when she saw her eyes, and held onto her little fingers, that piece had exploded.
There was no limit on the amount of love she felt for her daughter. Every rational deference mechanism went out the window. She was Leia's soul. And just like the rest of them, she had been taken away.
Growing quiet, Leia just sat there for a moment. She let herself feel the pain. She had done this to herself. If she had trusted her gut. If she had never left to find Han… No, she hadn't had a choice, but she let Kerris take her.
Han had felt it too. He pulled back when Kerris asked to hold Rayanna, but she still placed her daughter in her hands. She walked away from her heart and had let her go.
Leia couldn't take it. Bile rose up in her throat, and she only barley cleared Raymond's knee before the contents of her stomach ended up on the floor.
She would have felt embarrassed in any other situation, but she couldn't focus on anything other than the grief that was eating her alive.
"Leia, Leia it's going to be okay. Han is going to find her." It was all Raymond could think to say. He had no idea what she was going through, but he couldn't think of anything else. "You were only in my room for a minute, there is no way Kerris could have gotten that far. She might still even be on base."
Leia wanted so bad to believe him, but to hope was to give a piece of that grief back to the universe, and too often the universe had responded with torment.
Leia couldn't hope, but she could move. She could pick herself off the floor and fight. Fight for her daughter, the person who held her entire soul in the palm of her hand. For her she would move and tear this cruel universe apart.
Xx
Han couldn't help the slight deja vu he felt running through those same halls.
"LUKE!" He screamed as he saw his black uniform around the corner.
At Hans tone, Luke turned immediately.
"Han?"
Luke took a step towards him, but Han was infront of him in a matter of seconds.
In the past few years, in the past few days, Luke had seen every emotion possible on Han's face. Fear, panic, worry, stress. But at that moment, he saw anger. Anger that radiated out of every pore of his body. Anger that called for blood shed and revenge.
"Han what happened?"
"They took her. She's gone," Han gritted out.
Luke knew he wasn't talking about Leia. He didn't have to ask. He could see it in his eyes. He saw a father who had lost his child. He didn't need the other details.
"Let's go." Once more both men turn and ran.
Xx
"I WANT EVERY ANGLE OF EVERY CAMERA IN THIS ENTIRE PLACE UP ON THAT SCREEN IN THE NEXT 10 SECONDS OR SOMEONE IS GOING TO LOSE THEIR HEAD."
Han and Luke had burst into the comms room with such force that the room had gone silent. A silence Han had taken full advantage of.
No one questioned, they just did what they were told.
They saw it too. This was not the general they grew to respect. This was a man demanding work because it was life and death. A life or death that was so personal, that he every person in that room didn't dare look up from their computers until every camera, at every angle, was pulled up on the large screen.
In a matter of seconds, eight to be exact, the large flat screen was covered with 35 or so live images from across the base. Han scanned each and everyone until he found what he was looking for.
"There!" Han said as he walked closer to the screen pointing out a rectangle towards the top right. "Rewind that one –" he looked down at his watch- "7-minutes and 27 seconds."
Again no one questioned, and the video was instantly changed.
"Now let it play, but speed it up a bit,"
Han watched that moment once again. He was looking for something. He didn't know what, but he knew it would be there.
He was looking for that moment. That second his body flinched.
There had been one singular moment. He remembered his instincts telling him to pull back. It had been quick and involuntary; his subconscious was trying to tell him something.
He watched. Leia knew too by her body language. She looked guarded. Han had seen that politician smile a million times, and knew it was forced. Not the simple happy smile given to a friend, or the women who had saved her life…
"STOP" Han shouted. The pixelized image froze the millisecond before he flinched. Her hands had come from behind her back and into Hans direct eye line.
Replaying the memory back in his own head, form his own eyes, he remembered what he saw.
Stumbling backwards slightly at the realization, Han words were no more than a breath, "Oh god."
"Han what is it? What did you see?" Luke asked coming to his side, studying the image. Chewie had joined Luke's side seconds later, having been given the basics. Neither of them saw what made Han pause.
"Run it," Han said louder, neglecting to answer his brother's question.
He watched himself give Rayanna over to Kerris.
He was yelling at his past self. Screaming and pleading with himself to pull back once more, to decide to take her with them.
He watched Kerris watch them walk into the room. They crossed the threshold, and for a moment she just stood there. Rayanna began to whimper, and she started rocking his daughter back in forth in her arms.
Then Kerris curled her arm towards her daughter's face, placing the knuckle of her index finger against his daughter's cheek.
Abruptly, she stopped holding her finder still. Her eyes lifted from Rayanna's face, and shifted right to the camera
"Holy shit," someone muttered, as Han and the 30 other soldiers witnessed the smile of a murderer grace Kerris' beautiful face, and pure evil fill her yellow eyes.
But that was the distraction he was looking for. That slight misdirection she had planned to make them look one way, while she shoved her knuckle into Rayanna's mouth.
And as everyone else was entranced watching Kerris' eyes, Han saw the life drain out of his daughters.
And with that Kerris took a black cloak out of her bag, draped the hood over her head, covering Rayanna in the process, and backed into the shadows of the hallway.
"Where did she go?!" Luke yelled. But Han knew where she had gone. This base had been abandoned for years. It hadn't been coincidence that the Empire had camped right outside the three-mile radius. It had been a trap, one that was too good to pass up on with the opportunity presented. And they had all fallen for it. It had been too easy from the beginning, they had gotten to the planet to easily, the maps were to conveniently perfect.
If the Empire had planned this, then they knew this place better. Knew every hallway, every secret passage, every shadow to fall into in order to get in and out.
Han put a hand over his mouth and took a choppy step backwards. Another, and Luke was at his side.
She was gone. She was really gone. This had been planned, for weeks, months, it had all been planned.
A tear ran down Han's face as a chair was brought behind him. Not a moment too soon before his legs gave out.
He kept the hand over his mouth as he watched the screen play back the second Kerris had disappeared. The other images flashed as the others desperately tried to located Kerris and Rayanna, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Over and over, he watched her step into the blackness and simply disappear. He watched her devious smile plastered across her face. She knew he would be watching. She knew what this would do to him and Leia. To know that they could have stopped all of this in a fraction of a second.
Han shook his head as he watched once more, and when the most recent replay was over, his head simply fell between his shoulders.
The world around him continued, but he was frozen in that moment. He had handed over his baby girl. Given her to their greatest enemy and walked away. He would never forgive himself.
"Han?" her voice was little more than a mumble, but he heard her through the chaos. He raised his head and looked up at the screen once again.
He couldn't meet her eyes yet. They would tell her everything she wanted to know. Everything he was desperate to hide. He had no idea where Rayanna was. No clue where she was headed. She was gone. Just… gone.
Finally, taking a slight breath, Han turned his head to the right and she locked on his red shot eyes.
Tears poured from her face as she read his unspoken words, and his heart broke into a million pieces.
In another second he pushed himself up from chair, crossed the room, and enclosed her in his arms.
Her shoulders shook as she clung onto the inside of his shirt, as her tears fell without pause.
Holding her close, feeling her hot tears run down chest, he lowered her head he lightly kissed her collar bone before resting his forehead on her shoulder and whispering "We will find her. We will get her back."
"I promise."
Authors note-
This chapter physically hurt me to write, but this had been the plan from the beginning, so it had to be done ): Hope you enjoyed. The next chapter should be up in the next two weeks. Sorry for the recent inconsistency. Life is crazy busy, but I am still writing and editing as much as possible. Thank you so much for reading!
-KQinsights